AdventHealth Central Texas President and CEO Jennifer Swenson was all smiles while mingling with Lampasas County residents during Thursday’s open house at the Rollins Brook hospital.
In October, Swenson traded the Golden State for the Lone Star State when she became AdventHealth Central Texas’ new lead executive. So far, Swenson and her husband Grant, are enjoying the change of pace.
“The people are so kind,” Swenson said. “As you are adjusting and acclimating to a different environment, sometimes you get lost, don’t know where to go, and people will just stop and help you – they do it with a smile. You don’t always see that out west.”
Thursday marked Swenson’s first opportunity to engage with community members in the open house event hosted by the AdventHealth Central Texas Foundation. Already, Swenson said she understands Lampasans’ passion for their longtime care facility, “There is such pride around this organization and this community,” she said. “It makes me smile with pride as well because AdventHealth has invested in growing services here in this community. And honestly, I think people are looking to exit cities. I wouldn’t be surprised if more and more people decide to come into this community. We have to ensure we have services to support this growth.”
Before becoming AdventHealth Central Texas’ president and CEO, Swenson served as president and CEO of Adventist Health Simi Valley in California for nine years. Prior to that, she held key leadership roles at Kettering Health in Ohio, including serving as corporate vice president of the senior division and president/ CEO of Fort Hamilton Hospital.
Although most of Swenson’s professional career has been spent in California, she was born in a small town near the Minnesota-Wisconsin border. From a young age, she was up close and personal with the healthcare system.
“My brother, who is 18 months younger than I am, was born with cerebral palsy,” Swenson said. “Growing up with a brother who had disabilities, it kind of heightens your awareness of healthcare. Every time he had physical therapy, I had physical therapy because we were so close in age. That kind of shaped who I am.”
Swenson was further exposed to the ins and outs of healthcare with her father serving on a hospital board.
“I saw what they did, and I have financial skills; that was my skillset that I had,” Swenson said. “I saw how that fit into healthcare, and I was like – yeah, I think this is a good fit. I never just wanted to be a CFO. I knew I always wanted to lead a healthcare organization.”
Now six months into her role as president and CEO, Swenson is continuing to develop a strong culture in the AdventHealth Central Texas network. She believes having the right aura can help elevate strategic initiatives that lead to better patient outcomes.
“What I hope to bring to the organization is a culture where our patients feel cared for and are given high-quality healthcare, because we have measurements we want to achieve,” she said. “But also that people feel compassion – there is a sense of teamwork, a sense of pride in the care we are giving our patients.”
One of Swenson’s yearone goals is to leverage “best practices” across AdventHealth Central Texas. For example, Swenson praised Rollins Brook’s patient experience, something she looks to carry across the network.
While she is not yet a full year into her new role, Swenson already is planning for the next decade. She is eager to bring more specialists like general surgeons, cardiologists and neurologists to AdventHealth Central Texas and AdventHealth Rollins Brook. She admitted, however, the lack of physician specialists in the market is one of the biggest challenges she will face.
“I think when we have a platform that we can present them and say, ‘Here is Central Texas and Lampasas. Here is what you can do in this market, and here is how we will support you,’ I think when it’s a package deal, we are going to have success with that,” Swenson said.
Along with increasing available specialists, AdventHealth Central Texas is eager to ensure hospital infrastructure is built to last.
“We are investing almost $40 million into our facilities from an infrastructure standpoint,” the new CEO said. “This is like a facelift to the front, chillers and boilers, and really the nuts and bolts of what keeps that operation going. We have capital needs here at Rollins Brook, too.”
Swenson also is focused on investing in technology. In California, she witnessed the positive impacts of artificial intelligence in health care.
“If you are having a stroke, sometimes you can have an active brain bleed,” she said. “AI tools can actually run behind the scenes and do that quick read of that CT scan that says, ‘Oh, I need to alert the team. This might be a possible intervention.’ ” Advances in AI technology can work handin- hand with specialists to make life easier.
“AI will read it before the radiologists will and give a preliminary indicator,” Swenson said. “The radiologist will always be the final person to say, ‘This is an intervention, and this is not.’ But what that does is it cuts down from 50 minutes to five.”
As president and CEO, Swenson has a full plate of responsibilities -- engaging the workforce, achieving financial targets and reaching quality outcomes. But her focus is to ensure those in need of care are well treated.
“Obviously, patient outcomes are my numberone responsibility,” she said. “I want to make sure we are providing highquality healthcare; that is my priority. “
Jennifer Swenson, AdventHealth Central Texas president and CEO